Stanford already in must-win situation against Central Florida

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Northwestern linebacker Anthony Walker (18), obscured at rear left, and safety Traveon Henry (2) break up a pass in the end zone intended for Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey (5) during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game in Evanston, Ill, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015. (AP Photo/Matt Marton

STANFORD — It’s early, and yet it already feels late for Stanford, like the season is about to slip from its grasp before the midpoint of September.

One game down, and the Cardinal is under siege.

Eleven games remaining, and the urgency is raging.

Crammed between a stunning Week 1 loss and a momentous Week 3 challenge, the Cardinal’s home opener Saturday against UCF (Central Florida) now looms large. It’s an opponent Stanford cannot overlook and a game it cannot lose.

“We hit that Monday, the whole team, just how important this week is,” linebacker Blake Martinez said.

“Everyone talks about the big jump every team makes from the first to the second week. We want to make the biggest jump there ever could be. This is what it all comes down to. This is going to define the season, this week. It will show who cares about us, who really cares about (the) overall goal of the Pac-12 championship.”

While the outcome will have no bearing on the Pac-12 race, it will tell us everything about the Cardinal and tell the Cardinal everything about itself with the heart of the conference season bearing down.

Stanford should flatten the Knights, who just lost to Florida International. But after the touchdown-less meltdown at Northwestern, and with the showdown at USC around the corner, there is no telling how Stanford will respond.

This much is sure: There is no shortage of problems to correct.

From the illegal substitution penalties and dropped passes to the breakdowns in pass protection and errant throws — not to mention the general cluelessness — the offense played like an inexperienced unit that had no time to prepare, rather than a veteran attack that had nine months to get ready.

Even the defense, which held Northwestern to a single touchdown, has issues to resolve, starting with its performance on third down (Northwestern converted 12 of 22 opportunities).

“There were a lot of mistakes, but the best part is they’re all correctable,” quarterback Kevin Hogan said. “There is so much room for improvement.”

Coach David Shaw began the process, at least from a psychological standpoint, in the minutes immediately following the loss in Evanston.

“The one thing I said is that everyone will be trying to pull us apart, to point fingers. They’ll say, ‘Coach Shaw doesn’t know what he’s doing. They need to change the offense,'” Shaw recalled.

“Good teams handle losses and bounce back and not let outside influences bother the inside chemistry. We need to be tight, to play together, be physical and do the things that help us win. That’s how we’ve always operated.”

Jon Wilner has been covering college sports for decades and is an AP top-25 football and basketball voter as well as a Heisman Trophy voter. He was named Beat Writer of the Year in 2013 by the Football Writers Association of America for his coverage of the Pac-12, won first place for feature writing in 2016 in the Associated Press Sports Editors writing contest and is a five-time APSE honoree.

The dispute stems from different interpretations of the team’s 20-year lease agreement. The Warriors argue the team has no obligation to pay an estimated $40 million remaining debt for renovations to the arena once it departs for San Francisco next year, while Coliseum authority officials insists the team must cover the costs in full.